NCJ Number
228653
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 4 Issue: 14 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 299-315
Date Published
November 2009
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study explored differential relationships between personal and community stressors and neurocognition in children.
Abstract
The overall results of the study are supportive of the proposition that exposure to psychosocial stressors is associated with relatively lower levels of neurocognitive functioning in children. Exposure to personal stressors was found to be associated with relative deficits in at least one neurocognitive function. Community stressors were related to relative deficits in emotion attributions and problem solving. Early adversity can alter development of neurocognition. This study is a step toward disaggregating associations between neurocognitive functioning and community and interpersonal stressors in children in an effort to understand how stress exposure may influence cognitive function and, potentially, risk for psychopathology. Predominantly Latino children (n=553) aged 10 to 12 years completed tasks measuring intelligence, impulsivity, problem solving, cognitive flexibility, decisionmaking, and emotion attributions. Tables and references